Mercado de Lisboa

Mercado de Lisboa hits an absolute perfect sweet spot for game time with calculated decisions becoming harder each and every turn. What starts off as a slow build as you consider tile placement options, ramps up in speed, urgency, and scoring potential after just the first few turns. At this point you’re a good 10 minutes into the game, and what started off as a random board setup and tile allocation is now taking shape for each player at the table. It may not have been your idea from the start to go heavy into the fish market stalls but you may have spotted some possible future outcomes where this will score big for you. By now you’re 15-20 minutes into the game, much of the board market will already have a fairly defined path that all players will see and be able to follow, now is the time to really fine tune your possible investment versus risk strategies and see when you should take big gambles and when you should start pushing towards the game end objectives. Once you’ve hit 30 minutes of playtime the game will be winding to a spectacular finish where either all players can play out all possible tiles allowed, or someone can trigger the end; all while believing they have achieved the most money in the game. Other players will get another turn and you’ll reveal your hidden money that you’ve made, realize that scoring is remarkably close most times and then re-set this fabulous game in less than a minute to play again.This is what makes Mercado de Lisboa special, so much critical tile placement and planning done in a game that plays this quickly is not something you encounter often. The simple iconography, scoring, amount of tiles, and the actual tile placement rules makes this a surprising game that you can play right out of the box without a heavy slog through the rule book. The planning I found especially rewarding, the only hidden information is the amount of money each player has, so you can actively see the tiles they have available to play and everyone has full view of the available customers coming to the market to shop. It’s hard to follow all the possible paths that your opponents might take, sometimes someone will just play something you never expected, but thinking ahead at how they might play and trying to profit off their turns is an underlying thinky part that I enjoy.The slow build at the start is fun to think out and plan several market/restaurant combinations that will pay the best as customers start visiting the market’s rows and columns. Once you hit mid-game though and the board is heading a specific direction totally by design and creation of the players you get that exciting fast shift towards the second half of the game where big scoring turns and the possible end game may occur before you know it.I was surprised after our first game that we hit the suggested play time right on the mark, for a learning teaching game we clocked in right under 45 minutes, and subsequent games we were at and near 30-40 minutes each game depending on the flow of the market stalls. Sometimes your decisions are limited to what can only be the best scoring opportunity, other times you may have several tile placement options or customer tiles and can spend more time trying to math out the best one. Mercado de Lisboa was a hit from the start, and has found a home on our shelf as our favorite fast but incredibly thinky game.